Letters from the Inside, Michael Swango, #98

Dear Kelly---

[Ed.: I am omitting a page and a half of TV show commentary.]


> OK: Here is a movie that you simply must put on your NETFLIX list, for multiple reasons that are no doubt obvious, and discuss:

THE YOUNG POISONER'S HANDBOOK
"Gleefully gruesome British black comedy about a psychopathic teen who decides to become the greatest poisoner the world has ever seen, using his clueless family as guinea pigs. Deliciously mean-spirited film based on a true story! It is not for the squeamish. WOW!

Does this not totally pique your interest? One hardly knows where to begin. Besides your discussion & analysis of the film, you must find out what true story it is based on.

Then you can post the description, your review/analysis/AND the "true story"- all online so more people can see what sounds like a most interesting film! Or maybe a complete disaster...we won't know until you see it!

> I know you're not an obsessed fashionista, but I could not help but think of you wihile watching The September Issue. With all the crazy NY characters & settings, and OMG! some of the Dachau-esque models...I could imagine your running commentary.

Please send me the New Yorker story about the sociopathic doctor from New Zealand that murdered using meds.

Were you clearly not so certain about proceeding, I would tell you to make it go away. Life is too short. However, since that is not the case... Know that it is a marathon, which can be extended virtually at will by either side almost indefinitely. You cannot let it control your life and psyche. And I can only imagine the crowded dockets of New York City/State courts. I'm assuming this is a state litigation & not federal? So I am sure delays, postponements, etc. are par for the course.

So you are [apparently] the Plantiff from what I can garner from your short vague comments. Are you allowed to say simply what the course of action is without mentioning names or details, of course?

Is it possible that he [Ed.: John] is representing himself simply to make the entire process as awful and as miserable as possible for you? To somehow keep you in his life, however bizarre and twisted that may seem to your relatively normal brain. With that in mind, this deposition you say is scheduled for November, (but will no doubt be postponed until after the holidays) sound highly stressful. A Sociopath questioning you, virtually unfettered, face-to-face, under oath??

That story about your months of interviewing with that PR firm was hard to read. Some of the people you have to deal with are so utterly sleazy and disgusting---and believe me, you describe them perfectly in your letters. This guy not only sounds like a loser with power, but one with mean & vicious streak...Good for Amir for standing up for you. And people wonder why workplace violence is so prevalent...

[Ed.: I'm omitting the end because it was about tv shows. Also, I am not doing his compulsive underlining, but suffice it to say, he continues doing it.]